A few months ago, I noticed that we had a new artist at our site (BigDawg Music Mafia) named Toots Sweet from New York, New York. My first thought was, “Wow…a conservative musician from ‘America’s most liberal city,’ with a cool name. Can’t wait to see what he brings to the table.'”
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It usually takes our new members a few days to figure out how to navigate their way around our site (hosted on the NING platform), so I went about my business and made a mental note to check back in a day or two.
My good friend/songmate/partner-in-crime, Drew (a.k.a. BigDawg), sent an email to me saying, “You have got to check out this new guy, Toots Sweet…he’s great!”
So I did…and I smiled…big.
We have such a wide range of musical genres at our site, but this man is a true original with a great message and a cool vibe. His tribute to our troops, “Soldier Boy,” is one of my favorites.
Wasn’t sure exactly which genre to classify his music as until I read his bio:
Toots Sweet (singer/songwriter) is a New York City original. The only Conservative urban funk rock artist. Toots combines his passion for music with his love of country to create a refreshing new sound with a powerful message. He creates an “urban” rock funk sound that is uplifting and rhythmic with memorable hooks that will entice your mind and awaken your soul. His music communicates a message that is in sync with the beliefs and passions of our Founding Fathers that is respected by both young and old, from rural farms to urban city streets. Be warned though… if you do not love America you may find his lyrical content extremely offensive.
His CD release of Takin’ Back America in 2010 with songs as We The People, Soldier Boy, Culture of Corruption and That’s My Girl Lady Liberty, has received much praise. In a recent interview by Joe Ardis of Raiders News Network, he was quoted as saying “Toots Sweet is the funk master and the real deal… He’s so tenacious about what he believes in, yet so warm and approachable.”
I couldn’t agree more. His videos are well-produced and fun to watch, his messages are always spot on, and the way he delivers them through his unique and very entertaining musical style grabs you from the first note and keeps you hanging on ’til the very end. His personality is every bit as fabulous as his music — a warm, caring, passionate patriot… and I dig his accent. I asked him what made him decide to write political songs. Here is the response he sent me:
After 9/11 I started getting into politics more. By the end of Bush’s second term I was extremely disappointed in the bailouts for the banks via TARP. Then came along Mr. ‘Hope and Change’ and he really put the pedal to the metal in the wrong direction with the Stimulus and ObamaCare. The country is broke but the politicians do not seem to care. They were passing bills without reading them. It’s insane what is going on in this great Country.
So I started to fight back the only way I knew which was through my music. I attended the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally and was attending TEA Party events. I went down to march in Washington DC for both 9/12 events in 2009 and 2010. I met some amazing patriots down there. What struck me the most was the TEA Partiers who were born in other countries like Russia and Cuba. They were more frightened than most. They would say ‘Americans better wake up before it is too late’…almost like they’ve seen this before in their countries. It made me really concerned for the future of this great country. But as we all know, freedom ain’t free and we have to stand up for what we believe in.
I don’t look like your typical conservative. I want the youth to know that, as they say on BigDawgMusicMafia, ‘Conservative is Cool’. We as conservatives need to understand that music and the arts play a critical role in motivating and capturing the beliefs and passions of all people and by embracing pop culture, the conservative movement can further its cause, as all other movements have in the past like Bob Dylan did in the 1960’s and Bob Marley in the 1970’s, which have shown to be very effective.
If ‘We The People’ are to make a lasting difference in the minds of Americans, especially the youth, we need to understand that music and the arts can be very persuasive and influential. As I see our country losing its way, I will continue writing songs to help restore American exceptionalism to a country that was founded on freedom and the belief in the greatest minority on earth — the Individual. That’s why I believe sites like BigDawg Music Mafia, Raiders News Network (RNN), ArtistExpressway, and Big Hollywood are important and I want to take the time to thank them and thank you for giving Conservative musicians a platform. It means a lot to me but more importantly they are helping restore this country as opposed to fundamentally transforming it. At BigDawg I met some awesome musicians/songwriters. I’m currently working with great artists such as Chris Ross. He will be coming down to New York City next month. So we are going to meet up in my studio & collaborate on some freedom songs. I’m also going to collaborate on some tunes with the one and only Joe Dan Gorman, another great musician.
As I like to say, we are all in the mess together so we need to support each other in the struggle to preserve Liberty. Both Chris Ross and Joe Dan are as passionate about music as I am and just as concerned about the direction this country is heading and we all know what passion does for musicians so here we come America.
But in this uncertainty there is much hope out there which leads me to my next project, Keep Hope Alive with songs like The End Game, The Enemy Within & The Liberty Manifesto, with an anticipated release date of December 2011.
On different note, I’m going to continue to write fun songs/parodies in support of conservative candidates and their causes, such as Allen West, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain & others. It’s my way of contributing to their campaigns in hopes of making people more aware of who they are. So stay tuned, there’s much coming down the pike.
I had the great honor of meeting Congressman Allen West twice; once on the Intrepid in New York City through a mutual friend where Allen West and I spoke for about 15 minutes and then again when when I was down at CPAC, where he was the keynote speaker,and he took some time to chat with me. What a great guy. His speech that he gave on the American Freedom Tour, when he was running for Congress, inspired my song ‘1775’ (I’m currently working on the video). He’s a true leader and is greatly needed today as he is one of the few in Congress who has a clue. I’ll be meeting up with him again this summer at an event in New York City at which I’ll have an opportunity to speak with him one-on-one. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with him again.
I also had the great privilege of meeting Dr. Alveda King at a church in Harlem where she was discussing human rights for the unborn. She took some time out of her busy schedule to speak with me and take some pictures. She is a strong and beautiful woman. She is attacked all the time by the so called ‘caring’ liberals but she does not waver on her beliefs. She is an inspiration on what courage and integrity are all about.Glenn Beck, who is doing an amazing job to enlighten the American soul, has inspired most of my CD Takin’ Back America. I’ve been told “When Glenn Beck speaks it, Toots Sweet sings it”. I had the pleasure of being in the studio audience for one of his shows. He’s truly an inspiration.
The United States Military is an inspiration as well. Their bravery and courage amaze me. I wrote a song called ‘Soldier Boy’ to honor our heroes who take an oath to defend this country and defend its Constitution. Without the sacrifice and dedication of the men and women in the Armed Forces there would be no America. Thank you for all you do.
There is no question: this man loves his country and is one artist you will not soon forget. You can enjoy his music live at the National TEA Party Convention in Memphis and the Freedom Jamboree in Kansas City this Fall as he will be performing at both events along with many other great patriot artists including a bunch of BigDawg’ers.
If you love his music as much as we do, please tell your friends about this great patriot who is shaking things up in New York City named Toots Sweet. You can buy his music on his official site and keep up with him by subscribing to his YouTube channel and “Liking” his brand new Facebook fan page.
We are honored to call him friend and to have this opportunity to share his music with you. As he always likes to say:
We gotta keep on keepin’ up the good fight, spreading the truth, ’cause this party is just gettin’ started…and together let’s take back America one song at a time.
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